Marozia

Marozia (890-937) was the wife of Alberic I of Spoleto and a senatoress of Rome under Pope John X.

Biography
Maria Tusculani was born to the House of Tusculani, a dynasty of Catholic Italians. She was the daughter of Count Theophylact of Orvieto, and she came from the influential Tusculani family. She was beautiful, and she gained power through sex. At first being the mistress of Theophylact's cousin Pope Sergius III (and having the future Pope John XI with him), she later married Alberic I of Spoleto. In 912, their son Alberic II of Spoleto was born, and when her husband was murdered in 924, she remarried to Guy of Tuscany and captured Rome from Pope John X, having him smothered with a pillow and regaining control of Rome. Pope Leo VI and Pope Stephen VII, the next two popes, were her puppets and in 931 her son became Pope John XI. In 929, Guy died and she remarried to his half-brother Hugh of Arles, but her son Alberic rebelled due to his hatred of his stepfather, and he had them imprisoned. Marozia was in jail until her death in 937.